1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to computing systems and, more particularly, to collecting, processing, and organizing information accessed by the user of a computing system.
Copyright and Trademark Notice
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of this invention to material associated with such marks.
2. Related Art
With the advances in computer technology and the advent of globally connected computing networks such as the Internet, vast amounts of information are now literally available at our finger tips. Using a computer, one can access information stored in remote data storage devices and communicate with other computers connected in a communications network. Many computer users actively access and communicate information via a communications network through out the day. This information is typically stored in various storage mediums in the communications network as electronic files. To access a particular piece of information, the user needs to remember the exact storage location or a link that refers to the source of information.
For example, to access a web page, a user will have to know the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for that web page or a link that references the URL. A URL indicates the storage location of the electronic file that contains the content of the web page. The same is true, for example, if a user would like to reread an email message that was received or sent by the user. Unless; the user can find or remember the exact location or a reference to the electronic file (i.e., the content source) containing the message, the user will be unable to access the information.
Unfortunately, due to memory constraints, a user may not be able to readily remember the storage location or the exact content source for a particular type of information when he or she needs to access the information. It would be very useful, therefore, if information accessed or communicated by the user were automatically organized based on their content or other criteria, so that the user could readily access the content source for the information.
The present disclosure is directed to systems and corresponding methods that facilitate the automatic organization and collection of electronic information accessed or communicated by a computer user. The system automatically monitors the type and content of electronic files, such as web pages, emails, and other sources for content that are accessed, received, or transmitted by a user. The system then analyzes this information and determines keywords or categories of information included in each content source.
This analysis maybe based on guidelines provided by the user himself or entities who wish to monitor or determine the user""s behavior. The system then records each keyword in association with its occurrence in one or more content sources. Various standard and custom templates are then generated by the system providing detailed information about the associations between a certain keyword and one or more content sources where the keyword may be found. The template may be used to organize or retrieve information based on other classifications.
For purposes of summarizing, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
In one embodiment, a method for organizing electronic information includes: parsing a content source for keywords; selecting keywords from the content source based on the type of the content source; associating the keywords with the content source; searching a database for a reference to the content source; if the content source is not referenced in the database, updating the database to include a reference to the content source; updating the database with the keywords currently associated with the content source; removing from the database any keywords not associated with the content source.
In another embodiment, a method for monitoring information accessed and communicated by a user includes: parsing a content source accessed or created by a user for keywords; associating the selected keywords with the content source; updating a database to include a reference to the content source, the keywords associated with the content source, and the association between the keywords and the content source; providing templates that reflect the associations between one or more keywords and one or more content sources based on the information stored in the database.
In still another embodiment, a system for facilitating access to content of a source includes: means for parsing a source; means for selecting one or more keywords included in the source based on the type of the source; means for establishing an association between at least one selected keyword and the source; means for updating a database to include references to the source, the keywords associated with the source, and the association between the keywords and the source; means for accessing the source based on the associations included in the database; and means for evaluating the source based on the associations included in the database.
These and other embodiments of the present invention will also become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiments disclosed.